


Flu Season

by ProbablyWastingTime



Category: X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Disabled Character, Charles Is a Big Dorkface, Erik is not a Happy Bunny, Families of Choice, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, No Beach Divorce, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2015-04-10
Packaged: 2018-03-22 04:57:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3715981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProbablyWastingTime/pseuds/ProbablyWastingTime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Christ, here we go,” Peter says, suddenly sitting next to Erik at the island.<br/>“What are you on about? and put that blanket back on before you catch a cold.” Peter turns to him and raises his eyebrows in the way he does whenever Erik does something Peter considers parenty.<br/>“Thanks dad-” Erik does his best not to visibly wince, “-but we’re all doomed now anyway. Kids sneezed, there's no going back, man.”</p><p>Ororo catches a cold. Erik suffers the most out of everyone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flu Season

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for shaky characterization and general grammar/spelling mistakes. Please comment and tell me what you think! My first x-men fic, so all comments/criticism welcome.

It all starts with Ororo.The arrival of december means that she can now purposely conjure snowstorms over the mansion - with Charles’ permission, of course. The children had enjoyed a day out in the snow, and Alex even managed to lure Hank out for a snowball fight, an epic battle that had to be ended by Erik and the promise of hot cocoa before it got even more out of hand. 

  
So, with all the mansions occupants crowded into the kitchen, bundled in blankets and clutching steaming mugs, it almost seems like everything could possibly, maybe, just once, be calm.

  
And then Ororo sneezes. She had climbed onto Charles’ lap almost instantly after coming inside, shoving cold hands around his neck and shivering against his chest. She has pulled her blanket around her shoulders so that Charles has to be constantly hugging her in order for it to stay up and keep the little girl warm. Erik wonders why Charles gives in to the children so easily when it comes to these things.

  
Everybody sort of startles and stares at Ororo, before bursting into laughter - another thing Erik just doesn't get, why every small thing a child does is so delightful to everybody.

  
“Christ, here we go,” Peter says, suddenly sitting next to Erik at the island. He isn’t holding a mug anymore, but Erik can’t see an empty one around anywhere, so he presumably already cleaned his and put it back. At least he isn’t being a slob. Peter has, however, left his blanket bundled in front of him on the counter, which Erik is pretty sure Charles would want him to do something about.

  
“What are you on about? and put that blanket back on before you catch a cold.” Peter turns to him and raises his eyebrows in the way he does, whenever Erik does something Peter considers _parenty_.

  
“Thanks _dad_ -” Erik does his best not to visibly wince, “-but we’re all doomed now anyway. Kids sneezed, there’s no going back, man.” Peter is eyeing Ororo warily, like she isn’t a (mostly) harmless, seven-year-old girl.

  
“She’s fine.” Erik wishes his voice sounded more sure. He’s not worried about the kid, not at all. But if Charles catches something off her, Erik will probably catch it off Charles, which is something he would like to avoid.

  
“Yeah, no. Kids catch shit easily, man. And when they get sick, they go down hard.” Peter has barely finished speaking before he zips off and out of the room.

  
Erik has mostly forgotten what Peter had said an hour later, when the youngsters are drooping in their seats and it's time for all good mutants to go to bed. Alex takes Ororo from Charles, rather than waking her up, and goes with Jean and Scott to their rooms.

  
Erik and Charles go to bed some time later, Charles radiating _warmth affection family_ which Erik is pretty sure extends beyond him, to include the barely functional mess that lives in his mansion.

  
**************************

  
Erik wakes up early the next day. It’s a Sunday, which means no one else will be up for another two hours at least, even Charles, so Erik has breakfast and heads to the library to wait.

  
He hasn't even been reading for half an hour when the library door opens. It isn't Charles; Erik would be able to feel Charles’ presence in his mind, stronger than he feels it right now, if Charles was closer than their bedroom. Or even awake. Anybody else isn't worth Erik looking up.

  
Until a childish voice whimpers out “Errrriiik,” and he doesn’t really have a choice to put the book down, or have a bundle of sniffling seven-year-old falling off his lap.

  
Ororo must have come straight from her room to find someone, if the nightgown and messy hair is any indication. Erik idly wonders how long she was searching the mansion before she thought to look in the library, but then he is distracted by how hot her skin feels to the touch.

  
She’s shivering, and pushing herself against Erik’s chest like she can be absorbed into him by pure force. She’s pale and just generally looks like death warmed over, her face scrunched up in pain and a tight grip on Erik’s shirt collar.

  
‘ _Charles_ ’, Erik mentally calls out. He repeats himself when he doesn't get a reply, a little more desperate sounding the second time.  


‘ _What’s wrong, love?_ ’ Erik can feel the panic that comes with those words, leaking on the edges of his mind where Charles’ presence tends to stay.

  
‘One of your children is sick.’ Erik very pointedly does not think about the fact that any children of Charles are technically also his. He also doesn't think about how much that doesn't actually scare him as much as it should.

  
**************************

  
Charles manages to get Ororo to take some children's painkillers. Her face relaxes a little, but she keeps sneezing and she feels so hot and keeps complaining about being cold. She also hasn't let go of Erik yet. He has to carry her from the library up to his and Charles’ room, to meet him as Charles exits. Even with the offer of Charles’ lap to curl up in - something Ororo usually does not pass up - she seems to have chosen Erik as her victim for the foreseeable future.

  
‘ _You're not exactly a victim_ ,’ Charles thinks to him, as Erik carries Ororo around the living room in the vain hope that the movement will settle her. Its something he'd done for Anya, way back when. It never worked on her either. Ororo is tired, but feeling so sick has made her too uncomfortable to sleep. ‘ _She trusts you, finds you comforting, even. Most people would consider that a good thing_.’

  
“I can’t imagine why,” Erik says out loud, and Ororo lifts her head from his shoulder to look up at him blearily. Her eyes are unfocused and she seems a little out of it. Erik brushes her white hair out of her eyes. The movement feels unnatural and awkward, but Ororo doesn’t seem to mind. She leans into his hand and closes her eyes.  


She doesn't exactly sleep after that, but she does seem a little more rested by the time Jean comes downstairs and makes it her mission to play with and distract Ororo, until she’s softly giggling and only shivering a little. At some point, Erik had started rubbing her shoulder, and he almost forgets that he’s being trapped on a sofa buy a sick child, who still refuses to let go of his shirt. Erik is all manner of things, but he isn't mean enough to move Ororo now, not when she’s settled and calm and looking a little less like she wants to die.

  
Hank and Alex are smart enough not to say anything, when they come down late morning to find Erik on the couch, Ororo resting her head in the crook of his neck, Scott and Jean sitting quietly beside him. Although that may be more to do with the fact that Ororo is asleep and still ashy faced, then any kind of respect for Erik.  


**************************

  
They make it all the way to lunch before Ororo wakes up, crying out and scrunching up her face again. She wriggles in Erik’s arms, and ends up with her legs wrapped around his hips, hanging by her arms around his neck. Erik is forced to put on arm under her and the other across her back to carry her to the kitchen. Charles coaxes her away long enough for more medicine, but then she is quickly back to hanging onto Erik like a limpet.

  
Charles is smiling adoringly at her, which is the exact opposite thing he should be doing right now, Erik thinks. Why Charles doesn’t just take her out of his arms now, he doesn’t know. He also doesn't know why he doesn't just pass Ororo to Charles and let him deal with this.

  
“Ororo, would you like to sit with me, or would you rather stay with Erik?” Charles is moving around the kitchen, looking away from Erik like he doesn't know exactly what he’s doing.

  
“Erik,” Ororo mumbles into his shirt. 

  
‘ _See?_ ’ Charles turns to him then, places a plate of crackers on the table. _What a smug bastard_ , Erik thinks loudly.

  
“Ororo, are you going to eat some lunch?” Charles asks softly. Ororo shakes her head, rubbing her no doubt snotty nose against Erik’s shoulder. “Well, you should really eat something.” Ororo shakes her head again. Charles sighs. ‘ _Try and get her to eat something please?_ ’

  
‘ _What do you want me to do?_ ’ Erik replies, but still sits at the table. He shifts Ororo round so that she is actually sitting on his lap, facing the table.

  
‘ _Just… try, please?_ ’ Charles gets started making sandwiches, and Alex shows up to help.

  
Erik picks up a cracker and holds it sort of near Ororo. She eyes it disdainfully and groans.

  
“Charles won’t leave us alone until you eat something, and we both know how annoying he can be.” Charles glares at him from across the kitchen, but he earns a laugh out of Jean and Scott, and Ororo takes a tiny nibble from the cracker, so Erik thinks he’s gotten away with it.

  
‘ _No you haven’t_ ,’ drifts across his mind. Erik grins at Charles.

  
Peter shows up then, and Erik realises that he hasn't thought about where he’s been all day. Peter usually comes and goes as he pleases during the day, but Erik is used to seeing him at some point in the morning, before he’s off running laps around the mansion or (more likely) stealing from the shops in the city.

  
“Okay. What.” He’s leaning against the counter, a full glass of orange juice in his hand, which is suddenly empty the next second, and staring at Erik.

  
Jean chooses then to have a sneezing fit so violent Alex runs over to make sure she doesn't slam her head into the table.  


“No, no-” Peter throws his hands up in the air, “-no.” Then he’s gone.

  
**************************

  
By the end of the day, Jean and Scott have been transformed into piles of sick child, spending most the day in front of the television and slowly getting iller and iller. Jean vomits once, which Charles puts down to her telepathy going haywire whilst she’s ill and disorientating her, rather than the actual sickness.

  
Charles is also down for the count - another side effect of Jeans loose control on her powers. Whilst Charles isn’t actually ill, he feels just as bad as Jean does, so he joins the children and Erik on the coach until it’s time for the children to go to bed.

  
Well, it would be, except Ororo is still hanging on to Erik, and Charles is far too worried about the children to leave them alone in their rooms for an entire night.

  
Erik doesn’t exactly get talked into it - because Charles doesn’t convince people so much as go ahead and do what he wants to do, because he’s an asshole - but he ends up going to bed with Charles, and three small children between and on top of them. Ororo at least left him alone long enough for him to change, but as soon as he was in bed, she climbed onto his stomach and fell asleep splayed across him. Jean is sleeping on Charles’ arm, right next to the edge of the bed where they’ve left a bucket, just in case. Scott has curled himself into Charles’ side.

  
Charles is smiling adoringly again. Hopefully Jean sleeping means that he gets a break, but it also means that he can go back to annoying Erik.

  
“What?” Erik says, voice sharp and low.

  
‘ _Quiet, you’ll wake the children._ ’ Charles continues to look happy and very proud of himself.

  
‘ _What are you looking at?_ ’ Erik is absently rubbing his hand in circles over Ororo’s back. She wouldn't wake up if he stopped, but Erik just can’t bring himself to, feels almost guilty if he isn't doing his best to make her feel better.

  
‘ _Just. Enjoying this._ ’ Of course he is. Of course Charles takes delight in seeing Erik being awkward and being forced into interacting with the children.

  
‘ _Well, stop._ ’ Charles closes his eyes but continues to smile right up until he falls asleep.

  
**************************

  
Erik thought that, maybe after a good nights rest, everyone would feel better in the morning. He was wrong.

  
Ororo wakes him up by crying at 5am, so he takes her down to the kitchen for medicine. He thinks to bring some up to the bedroom, and he’s right to do so, because by the time he gets back, everybody is awake and looking very sorry for themselves, and Charles won’t stop sneezing.

  
Ororo, at least, falls back asleep pretty quickly. Charles asks Erik to go fetch him a glass of water so he makes his way back down to the kitchen. He’s just heading over to the sink when a silver blur goes right past him, upends a chair, and lands on the floor in a heap.  


Peter tries to stand up and stumbles over to the wall. He leans against it and squeezes his eyes shut, probably dizzy. “Fuuuuuuuuuck,” he groans.

  
“Peter.” The teen jumps out of his skin when Erik speaks.

  
“Holy shit man, don’t scare me like that.” He’s pale and shaky and barely standing, even with a hand still on the wall. He must have been heading towards the door with the intention of going out for the day, which is obviously a bad idea.

  
“Come on,” Erik says, going over to Peter and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He starts dragging him towards the kitchen door, Peter stumbling next to him but too weak to really do much about it.

  
“Hey man, I'm fine. My body does stuff quickly, you know? I’ll be fine in, like, half an hour or something.” Peter makes excuses all the way to the bedroom, but when Erik pushes him towards the bed, he flops down onto it face first.

  
“Hello Peter,” Ororo says, patting his silver hair, apparently feeling well enough to sit up by her own power.

  
“Hi kid,” Peter sighs, turning his head up to smile at her. Erik pulls his leather jacket off the kids shoulders and hangs it over a chair in the corner.  


“Make sure he stays in bed, Charles.” Charles sneezes again, and gives Erik a thumbs up. Peter puts up the same token protests but in the end, makes absolutely no effort to move. Erik turns to leave, and Ororo pouts at him.  


“Wait, don’t go! Read a story, please?” Her eyes are wide and hopeful, and Erik has to admit to himself that maybe, sometimes, its very hard not to give in to the children.  


Erik picks up a book left on Charles’ desk, _The Once And Future King_ , settles in the chair in the corner, and begins to read.

 

 


End file.
